Most grandparents I know spend their vacation on the holidays babysitting.  They take their grandkids everywhere – plays, nature walks, rafting, museums, etc.  

We on the other hand, are dogsitting a very active and homesick dog.  The cat is angry.  The neighbors are angry. 

And all this is a wonderful distraction from the news.  Charlie will keep us busy until the weekend.

The weird advantage of this is that I really love dogs, and when we had our enormous dog long ago I composed an answer to a question about him that I had to wait years for someone to ask.  At last, the hairdresser came out with just the right questions.  “Where does he sleep?” “With us!” “What about the smell?” “He got used to it.” 

So we’ll have to fumigate the house when he leaves – before we pack for our vacation – but maybe someone will reward me by asking the right questions.